Clockwork Angels: The Novel

For more than two centuries, the land of Albion has been ruled by the supposedly benevolent Watchmaker, who imposes precision on every aspect of life. Young Owen Hardy from the village of Barrel Arbor dreams of seeing the big city and the breathtaking Clockwork Angels that dispense wisdom to the people, maybe even catching a glimpse of the Watchmaker himself. He watches the steamliners drift by, powered by alchemical energy, as they head toward Crown City....

Ghost Rider: Travels on the Healing Road

In less than a year, Neil Peart lost both his 19-year-old daughter, Selena, and his wife, Jackie. Faced with overwhelming sadness and isolated from the world in his home on the lake, Peart was left without direction. That lack of direction lead him on a 55,000 mile journey by motorcycle across much of North America, down through Mexico to Belize, and back again.

Roadshow: Landscape with Drums: A Concert Tour by Motorcycle

For 30 years, drummer, author, and songwriter Neil Peart had wanted to write a book about "the biggest journey of all in my restless existence: the life of a touring musician." Finally, the right time, and the right tour. In the summer of 2004, after three decades, 20 gold albums, and thousands of performances spanning four continents, the band Rush embarked on a celebratory 30th Anniversary World Tour. The "R30" tour traveled to nine countries, where the band performed 57 shows in front of more than half a million fans. Uniquely, Peart chose to do his between-show traveling by motorcycle, riding 21,000 miles of back roads.

Traveling Music: The Soundtrack to My Life and Times

The music of Frank Sinatra, Limp Bizkit, Linkin Park, and many other artists provides the score to the reflections of a musician on the road in this memoir of Neil Peart's travels from Los Angeles to Big Bend National Park. The emotional associations and stories behind each album Peart plays guide his recollections of his childhood on Lake Ontario, the first bands that he performed with, and his travels with the band Rush. The evocative and resonant writing vividly captures the meanderings of a musical mind, leading rock enthusiasts to discover inside information about Rush and the musical inspirations of a rock legend.

The Masked Rider: Cycling in West Africa

The prolific drummer for the rock band Rush travels through African villages, both large and small, and relates his story through journal entries and tales of adventure, while simultaneously addressing issues such as differences in culture, psychology, and labels. Literary and artistic sidekicks such as Aristotle, Dante, and Van Gogh join Peart and his cycling companions, reminding the listener that this is not just another travel book - it is a story of both external and introspective discovery and adventure.

The Evan Gabriel Omnibus: Books 1-3

Books 1-3 of the Evan Gabriel trilogy. Follow North American Federation Navy Commander Evan Gabriel as he crosses the galaxy searching for redemption, returns to where it all began, then finally seeks revenge on those responsible. Military science-fiction adventure at its best.

Blood of the Cosmos: The Saga of Shadows, Book Two

As the second book of the trilogy opens, the humans and Ildirans, having narrowly escaped annihilation at the hands of the Shana Rei and their robot allies in book one, are desperate to find a way to combat the black cloud of antimatter of the Shana Rei. The mysterious alien Gardeners, who had helped them previously, turn out to be a disaster in disguise and because of them, the world tree forests are again in danger.

The Librarian

Suvi survived for thousands of years, waiting for humans to return. The salvager Doyle works hard to make a buck, with a healthy fear of sentient robots. Can they overcome their distrust and fears? Is the galaxy ready for them to unleash the future?

The Dragon Business

King Cullin may be known as "the Dragon Slayer", but he fears his son’s legacy will be as "King Maurice Who Speaks with Proper Grammar". The boy keeps his nose buried in parchments, starry-eyed at the idea of noble knights and eager to hand royal gold to any con man hawking a unicorn horn. Tonight, though, Cullin will educate the prince in the truth behind minstrels’ silly songs of glory….

Hellhole: Awakening: The Hellhole Trilogy, Book 2

After declaring his independence from the corrupt Constellation, rebel General Adolphus knows the crackdown is coming. Now he needs to pull together the struggling Hellhole colony, the ever-expanding shadow-Xayan settlement, and his connections with the other Deep Zone worlds. Even then, he doubts his desperate measures will be enough. Diadem Michella Duchenet has collected a huge space fleet led by Commodore Escobar Hallholme, son of the hero who originally defeated Adolphus.

Strange Beautiful Music: A Musical Memoir

Oft-hailed as the Jimi Hendrix of his generation, living guitar legend Joe Satriani has long transcended stylistic boundaries with a sound that raises the bar like a new horizon for the broader genre of instrumental guitar rock. Joe's six-string secrets have astounded listeners around the world for nearly 30 years. Featuring exclusive, firsthand interviews with Satriani, Strange Beautiful Music offers a unique look inside the studio with Joe, giving fans a chance to get up close and personal like never before.

Hellhole Inferno

After the events of Hellhole Awakening, the people of Hellhole and the shadow-Xayans scramble to rally against the threat from the still-living rogue Xayans. Back on Sonjeera, the Monarchy is in an uproar after their surprising defeat and the breakaway of the Deep Zone planets. The dowager Queen decides to go to Hellhole on a diplomatic mission, hoping to keep her power. But after touring Hellhole, Queen Michella is shaken, and begins to realize that she can never have the old Monarchy back.

The mystery of "Magic Man." The wicked riff of "Barracuda." The sadness and beauty of "Alone." The raw energy of "Crazy On You." These songs, and so many more, are part of the fabric of American music. Heart, fronted by Ann and Nancy Wilson, has given fans everywhere classic, raw, and pure badass rock and roll for more than three decades. As the only sisters in rock who write their own music and play their own instruments, Ann and Nancy have always stood apart - certainly from their male counterparts but also from their female peers.

Resurrection, Inc.

In the future, the dead walk the streets. Resurrection, Inc. found a profitable way to do it. A microprocessor brain, synthetic heart, artificial blood, and a fresh corpse can return as a Servant for anyone with the price. Trained to obey any command, Servants have no minds of their own, no memories of their past lives. Supposedly. Then came Danal....

Hair Raising: Dan Shamble, Zombie P.I., Book 3

The fur really flies when a serial scalper stalks the supernatural citizens of the Unnatural Quarter, targeting werewolves - and what’s sadder than a chrome-domed lycanthrope? Zombie P.I. Dan Shamble is on the case, trying to stop an all-out gang war between full-time and full-moon werewolves. As he combs through the tangled clues to hunt down the bald facts, things get hairy fast.

Red: My Uncensored Life in Rock

Loud rock, fast cars, and Cabo. This is the life of Sammy Hagar. For almost 40 years, Sammy Hagar has been a fixture in rock music. From breaking into the industry with the band Montrose to his multiplatinum solo career to his ride as the front man of Van Halen, Sammy's powerful and unforgettable voice has set the tone for some of the greatest rock anthems ever written - songs like "I Can't Drive 55", "Right Now", and "Why Can't This Be Love".

Death Warmed Over: Dan Shamble, Zombie P.I., Book 1

Ever since the Big Uneasy unleashed vampires, werewolves, and other undead denizens on the world, it’s been hell being a detective — especially for zombie P.I. Dan Chambeaux. Taking on the creepiest of cases in the Unnatural Quarter with a human lawyer for a partner and a ghost for a girlfriend, Chambeaux redefines “dead on arrival". But just because he was murdered doesn’t mean he’d leave his clients in the lurch. Besides, zombies are so good at lurching. Now he’s back from the dead and back in business.

Iron Man: My Journey through Heaven and Hell with Black Sabbath

Iron Man chronicles the story of both pioneering guitarist Tony Iommi and legendary band Black Sabbath, dubbed "The Beatles of heavy metal" by Rolling Stone.Iron Man reveals the man behind the icon yet still captures Iommi's humor, intelligence, and warmth. He speaks honestly and unflinchingly about his rough-and-tumble childhood, the accident that almost ended his career, his failed marriages, personal tragedies, battles with addiction, bandmates, famous friends, newfound daughter, and the ups and downs of his life as an artist.

Slimy Underbelly: Dan Shamble, Zombie P.I, Book 4

There's something fishy going on in the Unnatural Quarter. Bodies are floating face-down, the plumbing is backing up, and something smells rotten - even to a zombie detective like Dan Shamble. Diving into the slimy underbelly of a diabolical plot, Dan comes face-to-tentacles with an amphibious villain named Ah'Chulhu (to which the usual response is "Gesundheit!"). With his snap-happy gang of gator-guys - former pets flushed down the toilet - Ah'Chulhu wreaks havoc beneath the streets.

Publisher's Summary

Audie Award Finalist, Package Design, 2014

I can’t stop thinking big....

International best-selling author Kevin J. Anderson teams up with Rush lyricist and drummer Neil Peart to expand the story set out in Clockwork Angels, the 20th studio album by the legendary rock band.

All the journeys of this great adventure -

It didn’t always feel that way

For more than two centuries, the land of Albion has been ruled by the supposedly benevolent Watchmaker, who imposes precision on every aspect of life. Young Owen Hardy from the village of Barrel Arbor dreams of seeing the big city and the breathtaking Clockwork Angels that dispense wisdom to the people, maybe even catching a glimpse of the Watchmaker himself.

I was brought up to believe....

He watches the steamliners drift by, powered by alchemical energy, as they head toward Crown City - never dreaming that he is already caught between the grandiose forces of order and chaos, between the Watchmaker and his nemesis, the Anarchist. Owen’s journeys begin at a fabulous carnival with clockwork wonders beyond his imagination, and take him aboard airships, far into the Redrock Desert to seek lost cities, through storms at sea to encounters with pirates...and give him a chance at love.

Clockwork Angels: The Novel is a remarkable, innovative story unlike any other.

The basis for this novel, Clockwork Angels: The Album by Rush, is available now at rush.com.

I need to start by saying that I've been a Rush fan since the late 70's. I love their music, and the Clockwork Angels album is one of their best ever. It's the reason I bought this book, but I'm reviewing it as a stand-alone work rather than as part of the larger production.

Clockwork Angels is a traditional coming-of-age story set in a fantasy universe that incorporates elements of steampunk and alchemy. As the authors note in the afterword, many influences were drawn from classical stories and pulled together to create an adventure that will seem very familiar to anybody who has completed an English Lit class or two. In short: boy is raised in humble beginnings but craves adventure, runs away to the big city, has life-affirming adventures and finds that he can never return to the pedestrian life where he started.

As a 40-something adult, I was ultimately left wanting more sophistication from this story. The characters generally lacked the depth I wanted and played to fairly well-established archetypes. Many of the plot turns went unresolved in favor of moving on to the next stage of the book, and I felt they could have been explored further to add a bit more weight to the world building. There were some pretty significant events portrayed in this story that would have had a huge influence on the way the world worked, but we never heard more about them. Too bad.

As a Rush fan, I noticed lots of references to song titles and lyrics throughout the book. I agree that people unfamiliar with their music probably won't notice anything's up, and it's kind of fun to discover the easter eggs. But some of the references felt a bit forced or contrived. It was obvious in several cases that the phrase used was not really the best choice, but was tweaked to include a hidden bit of lyric.

Neil Peart's narration was pretty good, and it was easy to be pulled in to the story - always a plus for an audiobook, and not a guaranteed experience. Definitely very solid.

Ultimately, I would recommend this book to a younger audience. I think 10-15 is probably about the best age for a book like this, and would have enjoyed it a lot more as my 12-year-old self. As an adult, I liked it but was ultimately left feeling like I had listened to an abridged version with much of the detail omitted.

Have you listened to any of Neil Peart’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

All are excellent, this one is the equal of any other

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

As Rushfan this just made happy...and dreamy

Any additional comments?

1. As a Rushfan(tm)2. As a Standalone book

Either way is one of the best books I have read in years.

1. As a Rushfan(tm) this book is an incredible expansion of the "Clockwork Angels" album and of the band's entire body of work. The book's Primary focus is of course on bringing an expanded version of the albums concept to life. However it goes further, it brings out an expansion of all of the Rush's work. It brings in concepts from the entire history of the Band's albums and songs. These are not just cheesy planted references, but ones that enhance the naritive and even the understanding of such.

2. As a standalone book the story itself is vibrant and clear. There isn't a wasted word in the book. The story could have easily ran on as 500-1000 pages dragging out the concepts of the narative. However Anderson (and Peart its made clear this was a very tight colaboration) keeps the story running on the same steel wheels of the Steamliner's that figure centrally to the narative.

I HAVE NO FAITH IN FAITHI only gave this a middling rating,but I will have to admit that I did enjoy lots of it. I liked the main character. He is naive and positive. I am a sucker for characters who don't give up. I also was reminded a lot of Robert Silverberg, the writing was very familiar to some of his work.

I rarely listen to music and I never heard this album by Rush. I think they should have included the album with the book. For me this was an adventure book. The book has a cool afterword which explains how the book was written and why. It pretty much explains each and every adventure.

I am a clinical psychologist and writer living in Colorado's Vail Valley. I taught myself to read when I was 3 and I have been a voracious reader ever since. I love science fiction, literature, and non-fiction about psychology, business, history, politics, science and biography. I adore audiobooks and my kindle.

This book was clever and well-written. I enjoyed seeing the world through the eyes of the main character and I really liked the author's writing style. The story was straight-forward and deep at the same time. It was fun picking out all the references to Rush songs/lyrics while I listened. I wasn't crazy about the narrator's voice. It wasn't bad, but I think someone with a little more warmth and inflection would have made this a better listen. The additional material at the end gave some interesting insight into how the book got written, so keep going and be sure to finish out the whole audiobook.

What made the experience of listening to Clockwork Angels the most enjoyable?

I enjoyed listening to the person who actually had the original idea actually perform the final work.

What other book might you compare Clockwork Angels to and why?

This is the first book I've read in the steampunk genre, so there's not much that I can compare it directly to. But, it is similar to "The Odyssey" - as the main character is traveling and getting into fantastic journeys.

Which scene was your favorite?

I liked the scenes where Owen is investigating the Seven Cities of Gold - reminiscent of my backpacking travels in the Southwest (America) looking at the Anasazi ruins.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

"All the journeys of this great adventure ... it didn't always feel that way"

Any additional comments?

It makes the album so much more meaningful when you read the book - you get some additional meaning from the songs.

Been a fan of Neal Peart for a long time and i like his style of writing and now he's teamed up with Kevin Anderson it could only be a good thing; and so it proved. Thoroughly enjoyed the escapism while listening by the pool with a cold one. Pearts imagination has always been prevalent with the writing for Rush and along with Anderson they have put together a great little novel that flows and interlinks smoothly. really enjoyed and am looking forward to the next collaboration between these two.

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